There is so much frightening food available these days—like Twinkies , cappuccino flavored potato chips, and genetically modified foods. Navigating the grocery store is a bit of a horror story on a regular day. But, today is Halloween, and have some creepy suggestions for your holiday table. When I was a kid in the seventies, I went to a party dressed as a hobo, like all the other kids. We stuck our hands into bowls of peeled grapes (eyeballs!), wet and oily spaghetti worms!), and then ate...

The avocado is one of my favorite fruits. I first tasted one when I was little, in Florida, with my auntie. She had oranges, lemons, limes, and avocados in her yards. We could just pick them from the trees. We went out to gather a few of each, and she made me breakfast with what we had picked. She toasted Cuban bread, cut and mashed the avocado with a bit of fresh garlic and salt. The toast was thick and very brown. She spread the green fruit over the bread, salted the fruit, and squirted...

We live in an area that really loves beef, especially steak. If one is a beef eater, a good steak is the preferred choice, whether dining out, or when cooking at home. I recently took an informal poll on social media and (like the cheeseburger poll I did last time), received hundreds of excited responses. According to my responses, the ribeye is the favored cut. A ribeye is a well-marbled cut from the center of the rib section of a side of beef. It is rich, meaty, and takes well to all kinds...

The cheeseburger is an iconic American food. Take a big handful of flattened ground beef, a bun split in two, with salt and pepper. Cook the meat on a grill or in a frying pan or broil it. Melt some cheese on the meat as it finishes cooking. Toast the buns with butter or oil or not. Condiments and garnishes are up to you. Put the cheesy meat on the bun and dress it up, then devour. Seems simple, right? Hmm. Everyone has an opinion about what constitutes a great cheeseburger. The variables are...

Among other things, I am a professional food stylist. I have been doing this weird job for over 25 years. What a food stylist does is make food look fantastic on camera or video. Yes, it is fakery. Yes, it is somewhat dishonest. Yes, it is great work if you can get it. It pays well and a stylist gets to use her knowledge of food preparation, her skills as an artist, and an understanding of photography. It is very challenging. In this age of Instagram, anyone can take pictures of what they are...

Sushi, the wonderful Japanese preparation of rice and fish, used to be impossible to find anywhere in Wichita. It took a while to catch on here, possibly because of a Midwestern aversion to raw fish. Now, sushi is everywhere, even in the grocery store. Once a rarity, sushi and Japanese food in general are firmly part of Wichita’s diverse culinary scene. Fresh fish is but a component of good sushi. The most important part of any sushi preparation is the rice, which is lightly seasoned with...

Meat and cheese lovers, rejoice! Schane Gross, owner of The Anchor, has opened her new venture, the Douglas Avenue Chop Shop, and it is marvelous. The Chop Shop is an artisanal butcher shop that carries delicious meats, cheeses, house-made sausages, eggs, bread and specialty condiments, all sourced locally. Ms. Gross really cares about the quality of her products and it shows in everything The Chop Shop carries. One of the most remarkable things about the Chop Shop is the cheese case. It is...

Tacos are pretty much the perfect food. They are salty, meaty, drippy, savory bites that satisfy. Even mediocre tacos are better than no tacos at all. My friend Michael Carmody, a taco aficionado, has gushed over the food at El Tenampa for months, so I grabbed a friend and went to the slightly dilapidated building on west Central. El Tenampa has excellent street-style tacos. Nicely floppy corn tortillas are filled-to-bursting with different kinds of meat, onion, cilantro and cheese (if you...